Police say park ranger shot by woman at Lake Lanier in Georgia

Police say park ranger shot by woman at Lake Lanier in Georgia

BUFORD, Ga. - A park ranger has undergone surgery after being shot Wednesday at Lake Lanier by a woman who apparently committed suicide, officials said.

The U.S. park ranger told police he approached a woman in a pickup truck around 10 p.m. Wednesday to tell her the park was closed. But the woman opened fire, wounding the ranger below the chest. Police who searched the area found a woman dead inside the truck a short time later.

The ranger walked to a road where he summoned help.

"He was approaching this vehicle with the intention of just saying, 'Hey, the park is closed, and you need to go,"' Gwinnett Police Cpl. Jake Smith said. "And there was no kind of confrontation or argument or anything like that between the two of them. She simply produced the gun and shot him one time."

Smith said investigators believe the suspect committed suicide. The ranger was taken to a local hospital for surgery. His condition was not immediately available. The names of the ranger and the suspect have not been publicly released.

Rangers at the park are not armed and do not wear bulletproof vests, Smith said.